The present invention relates to an inflator assembly for inflating a vehicle occupant restraint, such as an air bag.
Known inflator assemblies use a combination of stored gas and gas generated by ignition of gas generating material to inflate an air bag. These inflator assemblies include an igniter which is activated to ignite the gas generating material. Upon ignition of the gas generating material, the generated gas provides fluid pressure which ruptures a disk to release the stored gas from the inflator assembly for flow to an air bag. The gas generated by ignition of the gas generating material can then also flow from the inflator assembly to the air bag. Inflator assemblies constructed in this manner are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,806,153 and 3,895,821.